Bitcoin Forum

Both of these are downloaded to my computer and i set everything up.  However still bit hesistant on which to choose to receive my bitcoins.  From what i read blockchain is very safe and so is electrum.  The big issue is i read blockchain is online so if anything happens to it, ppl can lose their bitcoins.  If thats the case, isn't it going to be everyone with bitcoins on blockchain then or it could be a select few?


I read electrum is better since its on your computer and you control everything.  However... i just noticed i was never asked for 2 FA on electrum compared to blockchain.  Is there a reason for this?  Why is there no 2 FA for electrum?


Also i read that blockchain is better because even if something happens to your computer, as long as you have the backup 12 word phrase you are fine.  But electrum i read is the same thing.  So is there any difference between this?  I know as long you remember your password you would be fine with either but with electrum... you would have to remember the 12 word phrase but blockchain as long as you have the password, that is always enough and of course as long as you have your iphone with google authenicator? 

Isn't blockchain an online wallet ?  and Electrum the download one ?

Are you talking about blockchain.info ? I don't suggest it... instead it is better greenAddress.it (multiSig + 2FA+ istant confirm). What do you want more? However also electrum it is a good desktop wallet.

Im talking about going from coinbase to blockchain when sending bitcoins.  So is that the blockchain.info?  When i mention blockchain in this site or other sites, everyone knows what im talking about.  So i assume its blockchain.info then? 


Yes i downloaded electrum but one fear of mine is if my computer goes corrupt or some thing like that happens.  I know as long as you have the 12 word phrase with you, its fine but that still pretty scary if the client or my computer has problems etc and thats why i want to just go with blockchain instead since as long as you have the password its fine.  Also it requires 2 FA whereas electrum doesn't.  So if someone has access to your computer... then obviously electrum isn't that safe then right compared to blockchain?

Also electrum use a password for every thing you will do ( send a payment, see the private key of an address , etc...). However I suggest you to use electrum, blockchain.info is not a good wallet.

If you want you can also use greenAddress ( with a second level of security "multi signature address").

Also i read ppl say well blockchain isn't that safe b/c its an online wallet and if some hacker hacks bitcoin, u lose your bitcoin. But wouldn't it be many blockchain users though and thus it would be a huge thing? Does anyone think something like this could happen? Im thinking since it still hasn't happened now, i assume it probably won't? How many cases have there been when some big online wallet like blockchain got hacked by hackers and then ppl with bitcoins there all got it taken? I believe there was one called Mov'Gov ... something to that name?


But some ppl here say its safe to keep any amount of btc there b/c if you feel funds in your online sportsbooks account are safe... then blockchain is even safer. I would like know if anyone agrees with that last statement.

I sticked into blockchain since this wallet is easy to use and can be access everywhere.

About Electrum , I kindda troublesome since It can be use once you've download it.
It means only that device can access the electrum wallet

you can always check these things youself. just search something like "losing bitcoin on bclockchain.info" "or lost bitcoin on Electrum"
and most importantly when you find results from your search, read WHY they lost their bitcoin

do you like an online wallet?
to use an online wallet  use blokchain

its not safe for online wallet
if you safe your bitcoin donwnload wallet bitcoin.

if by blockchain you mean blockchain.info the online wallet, it is a good wallet just remember to keep your high amounts in cold wallet also enable 2FA on that
also you can use Electrum or multibit they are desktop wallet and lightweight

I personally, choose electrum, i think dont need 2FA for electrum because there are word phrase and you will be fine, you can back up and save private key.
i dont know if bci now have a nice security, i tired use bci, and they're delisted on bitcoin.org : https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet (no blockchain.info).

I personally used blockchain.info as my ready to go wallet, anywhere you can access it and its secure too.
But if your holding lots of bitcoins you might try to put them on another wallet where it can be only access on one device like electrum for a long term safe keeping.

If your computer gets corrupted, you can still reinstall electrum and restore your wallet, if you have the 12 word seed.
The wallet on electrum can be encrypted with a password. So if somebody has access to your computer, he would still need the password to steal your coins.

Isn't greenaddress in the end just like another on-line wallet? I don't know much about it. Does the user gets his private keys? How is it more secured than blockchain?

What is the master public key on electrum?  I just noticed this.  Do i need to have this written down?

can someone answer the question about master key on electrum and do i need to write it down?

It's really just your preference, however, greenaddress does offer better security and features. Greenaddress allows you to setup a transaction limit and will limit your transaction volume. If your account gets hacked, the hacker will not be able to make more transaction than what you specified. Also, blockchain.info has some security holes before.

Yes, it is 100 time more secure than blockchain.info - check the greenAddress official thread here in the forum : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=521988.0

Any of the wallets its secure within itself. Even if you have a wallet in blockchain.info without 2FA address etc.. if you have a decent password and you don't get hacked, the coins will be safe.

If you are storing on an online wallet, there is no guarantee that your coin will be safe. I would suggest you opt for electrum. I don't know why you have doubts because basically if you noted down or remember the 12 word seed, you can recover your coins just about from anywhere.

Just so you know.. I created a blockchain.info wallet in 2013 when i was a bitcoin newb.

I tried to access just now and I cant, it logs but it closes itself after 2 seconds or so. Pretty annoying. Considering I had 0.00 there I dont care, but I should look into whats going on just to know.

would like to know this soon.


thank you.

I choice blockchain
I have use long used this wallet

Master public key is a key which allows users to generate a address but they cannot send it, most commonly used on web service to prevent coins loss if a hack happens. You can only spend it on the computer which contains the private seed/main wallet with the private keys. The seed can generate private keys and address hash however, the MPK can only generate public keys. Without the seed, no one will be able to get your coins even with your MPK.

The OP has doubts about security, not just recoverability.

electrum all the way, and i don't remember that you can sign offline transaction with blockchain

Electrum is better than blockchain.info wallet :)
Expect in accessibility :(

I still don't understand how in hell you can do "offline transactions". How can that ever happen if we aren't connected to the blockchain? is there any video that answers this in layman's?

Electrum on the online computer will sync to the most recent block then you can create a unsigned raw transaction. To validate it, copy it to a usb drive then to the cold storage computer and use the electrum client there to sign it. Next, bring the signed transaction to the online computer and broadcast it from there.

question.  I received the btc through electrum.  It however shows pending as the date but i see my btc there.  Does that mean i can send the btc now to another site or i have to wait until its not pending.

okay now it shows btc in my wallet.  The only thing is the date shows unverified.  So could i send btc now?

You should be able to spend the Bitcoins already, if the transaction has at least 1 confirmation, you can spend it already. I believe your electrum wallet wants at least 6 confirmation to ensure that a double spend will be difficult unless 51% of the mining power is under the attacker.

thanks.  it now shows a green check mark.

So i see if i send btc to an address theres a fee of 0.0002 btc.  Does anyone know how one can send their entire bitcoin balance on electrum to another site then when theres a fee of 0.0002 btc fee?  Example say you have 12.23921899 btc.  How much btc exactly do you put in send amount so after the sending fee theres exactly 0 btc in the account?

In my humble opinion I would pick electrum over blockchain.info mainly because I would need to trust blockchain.info. Online wallet has been a no no for me from the start. It defeats the purpose of Bitcoin (one of the main ones).

It does not need alot of time and dedication to secure a locally hosted wallet especially with electrum! It even installs on android, granted, with a bit of effort.

I couldn't find an option that lets user have control over their Private keys, what happens if for some reason the site is down? How will a user get access to their funds?

I believe they won't allow the user to access the private key. However, since they only have one of the two, it can still be secure as if they run away, they will not be able to access your wallet. On their FAQ, . Therefore, even if they go down, you can still redeem your inputs using gentle(http://greenaddress.github.io/gentle/#/view1)

For me,

Electrum is too good, YES its an offline wallet or an wallet from your PC. You control the computer, So you are responsible . if any damage gonna happen to your computer, such as deadly viruses , etc. You will lost all your BTC, BUT Electrum have an great feature. They called it "Magic words then Welcome back BTC" That means, If you type your magic words you will get back your BTC again. Its an feature where its automatically saved when you created an wallet to electrum, You should get an magic words and memorize it or save it, or whatever, However Electrum is still best for me, You can set your Sending FEE to 0.1 USD.

@viking02, Can you please edit the title of thread? Maybe it is better " Blockchain.info vs Electrum".

Thanks for the attention.

This tutorial will guide you through the steps involved.

https://electrum.org/tutorials.html#offline-mpk

That's just too complicated and I prefer having the keys for my wallet with me but maybe it will suit others, as for me I will stick to blockchain.info for small amount of funds and keep the bigger ones in cold storage and use electrum to handle those.

But thank you for providing this info.

just use electrum , its better in all ways online wallets are never 100% safe , offline wallets are if threated like they arent

What do you mean with offline wallets? Every type of wallet is online, I think you wanted to say "desktop wallet" or am I wrong? However greenAddress (in my opinion) is the best secure/strong webWallet much better than blockchain.info .

Yeah, he meant 'desktop wallet'. People use offline wallet for 'offline wallet(aka cold wallet) and for desktop wallet. One word for 2 different things complicate the questions/answers.


GreenAddress is better but people tend to use Blockchain.info as it can be accessed everywhere.

Have anybody ever used Armory offline+CounterWallet? It's better than GreenAddress IMHO.

   -MZ

No I've never used armory , maybe one day I will try it. GreenAddress + hardware wallet (like trezor or ledger wallet) is the best option for the moment.

Many people don't like to spend money on hardware wallets. If they have many Bitcoin to store, then hardware wallets are the best option. Electrum supports hardware wallets Trezor and HW.1 and Multibit will be soon releasing. I have tested HW.1+GreenAddress and it was easy to setup and works great. I have 2 BTChip-HW.1 wallets, I maybe selling 'em if I can find a buyer as I am in need of Bitcoin.

   -MZ

Electrum for me. But I don't have many funds :-)

Missed this somehow. Transaction fees are calculated to ensure it meets the minimum priority and confirm in max an hour or two(mostly the next block after you send the transaction). If you want to ensure that 0 BTC is left in the wallet, subtract the transaction fees from the BTC and fill up the send form accordingly.

Perhaps he meant cold storage?

Nope. Didn't you just read the post after it? #44 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=950454.msg10445996#msg10445996). Please avoid posts like these. Non-constructive+signature advertisement - may get a small period ban. :)

   -MZ

Electrum is shit compared to Maidsafe. Prove me wrong.

Is there any MaidSafe Bitcoin wallet? I couldn't find one.

   -MZ

How many timse has blockchain been down?  just curious.

Did you try reporting it?
You seem to be the one with a pay/post signature campaign, boosting your post count.  :)

There isn't. He is just trolling.

Regarding OP, Blockchain have been having a lot of issues lately so I will go with Electrum.

Online wallets are generally unreliable due to the downtimes and a website full of bugs. I wouldn't recommend anyone to use blockchain.info due to the obvious security issues and unreliability.

Both the above posts are correct. I use Blockchain.info sometimes but I don't hate downtime, I hate fake blocks and transaction errors, i.e., orphaned blocks getting added, confirmed transaction not getting confirmations, non-confirmed transactions getting conformations etc...


It was no offence, I was trying to help you. :)

   -MZ